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While KILL BABY KILL (Original Italian Title – OPERAZIONE PAURA “How Fear Operates”) is not Mario Bava’s best movie, it has always been my personal favorite of his. Like so many of Bava’s movies, I first saw it in a drive-in theatre in the 1970s. At that time it was called CURSE OF THE LIVINGContinue reading “KILL BABY KILL (1966): My Favorite Mario Bava Movie”

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the older I get, the more I’m revisiting the classic monster movies of my youth but now with an adult’s perspective. It is also apparent that the vast majority of these movies that made an impact on me were photographed in black & white. No one was better atContinue reading “CALTIKI (1959): Italian Gothic Horror Sci-Fi, What A Combo!”

It has been several years now since a small outfit called CasaNegra Films released a series of classic 1950s Mexican horror films on DVD. The 1950s films in Mexico were similar to those that Universal made back in the 1930s. In a few instances, some were even better as the atmosphere in these films surpassedContinue reading “THE VAMPIRE / THE VAMPIRE’S COFFIN: Two Classic Mexican Horror Films With One Better Than The Other”

Back in the 1960s I can remember reading reviews of Mexican horror films in Stephen H. Scheuer’s TV KEY MOVIE GUIDE (this was before Leonard Maltin) and they were always given really terrible reviews. They played on our local TV station’s SHOCK THEATRE but I never saw one in its entirety. What I do rememberContinue reading “BLACK PIT OF DR. M Is An Unexpected Gem”

I vaguely remember seeing a few Mexican horror films on my local TV channel when I was growing up. The quality of the prints weren’t great and, even to an 8 year old, the dubbing was atrocious. This one and a Russian (Soviet) film called THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE stuck with me because theyContinue reading “THE WITCH’S MIRROR Has Everything But The Kitchen Sink”

My parents had a collection of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories in our home library. I first read all of them when I was 12. Like many others in my generation (I was born in 1952) my first encounter with Sherlock Holmes was on TV in these classic B&W movies with Basil Rathbone & NigelContinue reading “SHERLOCK HOLMES (1939-1946): The Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Films Restored”

After watching RICHARD III, I found the film endlessly fascinating. Part of the fascination lies in the age of the film itself. You rarely get to see a film from 1912 much less one in excellent condition. I felt as if I had gone back in time to a 19th century theatre which in effectContinue reading “RICHARD III (1912): America’s Earliest Surviving Feature Is Primarily For Film Scholars”

As you can see by reading the other reviews here, people either love, like, or loathe Olivier’s performance. I’m definitely in the like category. I don’t love it but neither do I hate it. I don’t have a problem with the black make-up in view of the overtly theatrical nature of the film (Olivier’s ArabContinue reading “OTHELLO (1965): Olivier’s Now Politically Incorrect Version Is Not For All Tastes”

I was looking forward to this release of OTHELLO with the same sort of anticipation that I had reserved for Kino’s RICHARD III. Therefore I must confess that I found this DVD something of a disappointment which has nothing to do with the film itself but rather with the presentation. My biggest complaint is withContinue reading “OTHELLO (1922): German Silent Film Is Good But Could Have Been Better”

This is the last of my reviews concerning cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare that I saw during my college years. It concerns one of the most notorious film versions of all, Roman Polanski’s & Kenneth Tynan’s adaptation of MACBETH. It was Polanski’s first film after the murder of Sharon Tate and it was heavily criticized atContinue reading “MACBETH (1971): Hammer Horror Meets Shakespeare”